BY DAN VALENTI

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY MARCH 21, 2018) — We made it. Another winter resides now only in the books, an abstraction devoutly wished by many but not THE PLANET.

We have come to cherish snow season as part of the quadrennial Equinox. On a long, brisk walk in the semi-wilderness, we saw birds banking on the wind, a fox making tracks, and crystalized snowmelt slowly trickling under a cold sun. With the stripped trees, one can see deeply into the same woods that, in late spring and summer, shall be obscured by the green leaves of contradiction. In the evening, we gazed in “real country dark” at a sky full of stars, locating Orion’s Belt at 60 degrees in the SW ceiling with Venus blazing to the left. Diagonally opposite, the Big Dipper dripped with signs of True North.

Magnificent. A blessing.

We have also come to cherish, even covet, the “turning inside” that winter forces upon us. The snow acts as a muffle, and the silence becomes thick, offering recovery, relief, and unique self-consistencies that, at other times of the year, seem harder to come by. “Snow days” exist but not in a school context. A “snow day” is gray-white possibility.

Keep Florida. Give me a Northeast winter every time.

ORANGE ALERT — Not many outside of THE PLANET and a few diehards gave the Syracuse Orangemen much chance of even making March Madness. The NCAA selection committee, giving the nod to coach Boeheim, gave the Orange a play-in game to determine the tournament’s final spot. Syracuse won. Then came two surprising victories, the second a shocker, against teams highly favored and better “on paper” the latter of which many picked for the championship game.

Fortunately, you don’t play on paper. You play on hardwood, and the Orange, largely on a brilliant, disciplined 2-3 zone defense, have made the Sweet 16. Next up is Duke (with Syracuse one of three ACC teams still alive). The Blue Devils won earlier this year in regular conference play in their southern barn as well as a match-up in the Carrier Dome. This time, the game is on neutral court. Duke will go against a bunch of young men who don’t know they’re not supposed to be doing what they’re doing. Moral of the story: Never trust “the experts.”

CATV CALLS — Monday night’s packed public hearing on Spectrum’s cable service highlighted a major structural fault that has long held back Pittsfield. THE PLANET writes of the demise in quality of the city’s boards and commissions. Over the years, these panels have been largely taken over by political hacks, wannabes, and the “Barney Fife” types — they love to see their name in the paper when nominated by the mayor, love to receive stipends, but hate doing the work. The city suffers, taxpayers get abused: not a good combination.

The cable commission is one such board. That commission has meekly accepted irrelevance, remaining content to have only one duty, to negotiate cable contracts. As you can judge from the results, these commissioners can’t even be relied upon to do that job. PLANET critics love to point out that THE PLANET “needs to get our s–t together” when it comes to critiquing the commission, to which we can only point out the myopia in such a statement. Such critics need to see an optimist and get their eyes checked.

Any cable commission with effective members truly interested in public service would make it clear that their participation is conditioned upon being allowed to act in ALL MATTERS concerning the city’s cable contract and the company retained to provide the service. It would be a relatively process to redefine the commission’s charter, expanding it scope. In short, the cable commission remains hidebound only because of the apathy of its members. In a healthy city, that doesn’t happen. A healthy burg is that way, invariably, because its boards and commissions serve in a vital, creative way.

The turnout gave us a rare glimpse of the kind of public input and oversight that keeps a community healthy. If only we could get citizens roused when the school department budget comes to the floor.

If only, if only, if only …

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“Convergence is just another name for coincidence. It is serendipity that’s purpose-driven” — Sir Tiberius Fruitjuice.

Back in the 1990’s I sat on the cable commission and found that the commission was in place to govern the contract between the City of Pittsfield and the private ” for profit ” company that was given permission by the City to use its airwaves. That doesn’t seem to be the case these days. Spectrum doesn’t seem to care at all for the access which the City of Pittsfield gives to them to set up their business in our community….they seem to think the airwaves belong to them when in fact the City of Pittsfield is in charge of who provides services to the community. Perhaps some old fashion competition from another cable provider would make a difference. Spectrum is not the only cable provider in America.

PCTV has been a rolling,self promoting, bootlicking, info-mercial for the gob’s and sig’s, it’s got so bad the Mayor does a Cooking Show (prep Cook) and JIV gets to tell bedtime stories to Bootlicker. Johnny not lately, gives new recruits a chance to interview, and has a vote down the road’.

There is one Show though on that you can count on, we know what it is.

Linda Tyer just rushed Terry Kinnas away from the microphone after 5 minutes, less than that, actually, because he criticized her and her office for not DOING THEIR JOB in enforcing parts of the contract with Spectrum as far as fulfilling their responsibilities to the people of Pittsfield. Others had spoken for 8 or 9 minutes, but because Mr. Kinnas brought up the lack of action from her office in representing us, her constituents, he was rushed away, very rudely in fact. This was supposed to be a public meeting but I hear the concerns of EVERY citizen in Pittsfield, not just those who bash Spectrum and leave her and her office, the authority elected to protect us from predators, such as Spectrum.

Terry Kinnas truly is a Super Citizen. He deserves an apology from the mayor for being cut off – many others were allowed to ramble on. Terry was a hero when he served on the school committee – he filed complaints against violations of the open meeting laws and won. Thank you Terry!

It’s all about the envelopes. It’s just like buying a mattress from Justin Resnic or Bob’s Furniture
Here are the prices single $29.99- double $39.99 queen- $49.99- king $59.99 –
Or –
(1) – $25 a month 50 MBPS Down, 1 MBPS up
(2) – $50 a month 100 MBPS Down, 5 MBPS up
(3) – $75 a month 500 MBPS down, 10 MBPS up
(4) – $100 a month 1 GBPS down, 25 MBPS up
Spectrum. It is the second largest cable operator in the U.S. by subscribers, having acquired Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in 2016. It offers cable broadband and fiber Internet service. Internet plans start at $29.99 per month for 12 months, when bundled, for speeds starting at 60 Mbps.

Spectrum has thousand of elderly who dont have the slightest idea of how to program the remotes.It the worst rollout of any business change ever.They did not care one bit about their customer but thats business today .You should not have to pay for cable the be blackmailed into other charges to watch it.

I want a meeting to complain about my electric bill, and groceries, insurance rates, and mortgage, and RE taxes, and income taxes, and state taxes, and the price of tea, and the price of rice, and the price of bananas – or wait….if I don’t like the price then I won’t buy it – cancel your subscription or STFU – TV isn’t a God given right – Tyer is a terrible Mayor but for many other reasons – the cable prices aren’t her fault – please people

Hey dude…everybody is mocking your commander in chief. Have you seen any late night TV in the last year? Or gone to any comedy show anywhere in the world in the last year. The whole world (minus the Hannity tribe) is laughing their collective asses off. What do you suppose the whole world sees that you don’t?

Maybe Nuciforo can sell his marijuana products to help the women Donald Trump is suing for millions of dollars to be silent about his love affairs and inappropriate sexual behaviors towards porn stars, playboy bunnies, and reality TV actors?

What always bothered me was how these cable companies would offer discounts and great packages to new customers, but nothing to loyal customers who have been using the same company for a long period of time. I know they do it to recruit new customers,but there should be a little something for all.

The mega mega mega super super super citizen, the Wiz,will host his call I. She tat six p m on channel 1301. The Gaetani Pittsfield News Hour is the best how Currently on PCTV. news you can Trust.

I wonder what the G-Man will be talking about tonight. I Hope he talks about how Tyer unfairly shut down Mr. Kinnas at the cable meeting. The Wiz is the ultimate taxpayer advocate,and I’m certain he should have something to say regarding Tyreds action. tired should be prepared for a tongue lashing by the Great One!

He and only is capable of righting the many wrongs in this City, he has balls like Valenti, like basketballs. Petty politicians take note.

I made a deal with Spectrum Awhile ago,now they aren’t making any deals. It’s like switching to gas heat and getting the rebate on the furnace conversion, sometimes you have to want it when they promote it. Timing, however, there really wasn’t much coming from the cable commission.

What one is the C C on? And what is Planet show and the Gaetonee show? All other are Infomercial? Looks like Scumps pleasures are going to his little head, which in turn could be his downfall, because everyone likes a sex story.

Gas prices were up and down, mostly up, during the Obama administration. You didn’t complain about it then I’m sure. The last time we saw gas prices at 98 cents per gallon was 2001. I doubt gas prices will ever be that low again.

I love listening to all these liberal heads exploding over Trump, on this blog. It really is entertainment. Melle, Dusty, etc. – who are you gonna support for prez in 2020? Such a fine array of candidates – pedophile Biden, Liz Warren the fake Indian, Hillary and her Clinton Crime Family, Bernie the Socialist…..the list is endless. Humor me with your choice, please. In the meantime….MAGA!

Totally agree with you Mr. Fritz. Oprah Winfrey for president was the big choice of Progressive Hollywood last I checked. She who stood by silently while Harvey Weinstein was pressuring so many women to have sexual relations with him or he would ruin their careers. Actually all of Hollywood stood by silently while that happened even though it was well know by everyone, but they and the Democrats are supposedly now the big champions of women.

Don’t even get me started on how Democrats and the liberal media treated Sara Palin.

Sara Palin isn’t an idiot. She is a very intelligent woman who was called so many names by Hollywood, the liberal media and Democrats, but more than that, those on the left made it their personal mission to destroy her and her career all because she is a conservative.

What about Mika on Morning Joe who whines incessantly about President Trump or Rachel Maddow who does the same? Are they idiots? For that matter what about Hillary who wants to blame her presidential loss on women who listened to the men in their lives to make their voting choice? Hillary who thought women should vote for her just because she is a woman and for no other reason. These women are all challenged shall we say to do and say what makes sense, but I don’t see the liberal media going after them. Of course not because they are on the side of the liberal media. They are what the left likes to call “nasty women” which is a good thing from their point of view.

That is all they got because there is no excuse for Trump. You cannot defend him but you can divert the conversation to someone else. And that “pivot” maneuver is taught in the Hannity school of alternative facts. It is a desperation move used all day and night on Fox news.

All funding for PCTV does not come from subscribers…ALL FUNDS THAT KEEP PCTV ON THE AIR COMES FROM SPECTRUM…The cable provider provides these funds in exchange for the rights the City of Pittsfield grants to the
cable provider ( Spectrum ) to use the airwaves in the City.
Therefore it is incorrect to assume that cable rates pay for
PCTV programming. Spectrum pays for PCTV programming
by law as a part of their contract with the City of Pittsfield.

Pittsfield Community Television is paid for via a unique arrangement. Through a ten-year franchise agreement between Time Warner Cable and the City of Pittsfield, our station receives nearly 5% of Time Warner Cable’s revenues annually. The funding we receive is used for both operating expenses (salaries, utilities, rent, supplies, etc.) and for capital needs (purchase of equipment)

Exactly! And where do the revenues come from? Pittsfield residents, who are getting porked every which way by their own city government in the form of higher property taxes, community preservation tax, higher water rates, high school tax, excise tax even though the roads are the worst in New England, and if “they” had their way, toters. So therefore Gocomo,it is coreect to assume that all funding comes from subscribers. Where do you think Spectrum gets their money. Dummy up man.

Great column on winter, the changing of seasons, and its wonderful benefits for the soul. I for one am sick and tired of all the cry babies pissing and moaning about winter year after year. It’s a free country and if you don’t like winter -move down south. Now, if you want to bitch about pot holes in Pittsfield, well that’s perfectly understandable!

Personally I hope for an April surprise in the form of a foot of snow.

Why does D T R bring peopleli,e William Cameron onto her t v Show. No one wants to see or hear fro. Has beenslike Cameron, p
Ease DT Rget better guests, otherwise, your show will fall by the wayside, like the Stooge Sturgeon’s Show.

You should think of going solo like the Wiz.

Which is the top show on PCTV.

I’m sure the Wiz would be glad to give you some tips. He has gone to call-in and has a terrific show every week, someone even called in and wanted the G -Man to get rid of a dead skunk on a snow bank on Pecks Rd. the Wiz handled it very graciously,love that Wiz!

This is why we need far fewer politicians in all of our lives. I will be reading this book. “Killing the Deep State” and “All Out War” are also great books to check out to see what is really going on in this country.